Techmeme turns to curated news

by Jason Sanders | December 5, 2008 at 08:54 am

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For all the algorithms and clusters of Commodore 64s that are keeping Techmeme running, it seems as though the fully automated, self aware TechmemBot hasn't quite replaced humans just yet. Joining the ranks of NowPublic and Mahalo, Techmeme has decided to replace their algorithmic news ranking system with a curated feed.

Instantly obsolete news isn't the only hazard. A fundamental component to any news organization program is the determination of whether two stories are related. Deciding is often rather easy: if two stories hyperlink each other or both use the words Apple, Psystar, and DMCA repeatedly, they're probably related. Unfortunately, the clues are sometimes far too subtle for the most advanced algorithms to notice. This leads to bad "related" grouping, and even the failure to surface breaking news in the first place. Even giant, technically-accomplished corporations have had trouble breaking news using algorithms.

While social news sites such as Digg and Reddit boast of user controlled news and content, the underlying principle of humanity continues to play an important roll in maintaining a level of quality that only we can truly discern.

Proposal for fourth law of robotics:

A robot must not operate a content site, and through action, allow a human being to experience annoyance as a result of poorly chosen articles.

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